Disclaimer: I am literally a sophomore in high school, never written any story in my life. So I am 100% not the owner of the Harry Potter franchise, that would be the wonderful J.K Rowling. Anything you recognize, that would belong to her. Cool? Cool.

Chapter 1. Platform 9 ¾

September 1st, 1975

I promise, I am not a self-centered egotistical person.

I know the world is a mess. People are going hungry everyday, being kidnapped, raped, murdered... gosh that list could go on forever. The point is, I realise there are problems in the world. And I realise that my teenage issues don't matter. But Merlin help me, if Potter ruins this year for me, I will make him sorry he ever messed with me.

Lily Evans

I close my journal with a snap, and stick it into my suitcase. Dad just told me that we're ready to leave for Kings Cross Station, and I won't focus on anything other than my excitement for this school year. Not even my Potter-induced rage will upset me now.

You see, this is my fifth year.

That may not seem special, but I assure you, it is.

First of all, I was chosen to be a prefect. When I first opened my Hogwarts letter and saw the shiny badge staring back at me, I think I almost burst my eardrums with how loudly I screamed. Mum ran upstairs thinking I was dying, only to see me in hysterics over being chosen for prefect. It may not seem like a big deal, but to me, being chosen as prefect is proof that I belong at Hogwarts.

Fifth year is also the year I take my O.W.L.s. Honestly, I'm excited to take the exams. A little nervous of course, but this seems like a coming of age thing, and I'm looking forward to it.

What's least expected by everyone, but what I'm most eager for is that this year I'm trying out for the quidditch team. No, I have not gone insane, nor am I under the imperius curse, or any other potions or spells. In reality, I just spent the summer with Cas.

Dorcas Meadowes was my roommate in first year, and is one of my best friends, along with Alice Fortescue and Mary Macdonald. But, we have never made the mistake of calling her Dorcas twice. She hates her full name. Says it sounds like a dolphin's dorsal fin. Which… she's not wrong, I can't argue with her there.

Cas invited me to spend part of the summer with her since she's an only child, and knew that she'd get bored without anything to do. Even with me there though, we still got bored. Which led to her brilliant idea of teaching me to fly. Surprisingly, that is not sarcasm. This was the best idea that Cas has ever had. And that's saying something, considering in second year she decided to help me bring my muggle-style christmas decorations to Hogwarts.

I'd told Alice, Mary, and Cas how much I missed seeing the sparkling christmas lights around the holidays. So, Cas had written home to her parents, and gotten muggle christmas lights. Then, she got Alice and Mary to help her charm them into glowing their signature rainbow colors, without the need for electricity, and they hung the lights up around the entire castle. I may be slightly biased in that being Cas's previous best idea, but, if quidditch beats that, then it is truly amazing.

It goes without saying that Cas loves quidditch. She's played left chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team since third year. However, I was surprised with how much I loved quidditch when she convinced me to get on a broom. After my experience in first year where it took me about twenty times to get my broom to come up, and Mr. Wale had to talk me down after I freaked out being about a foot off the ground, let's just say I wasn't very amiable towards quidditch. At all. Looking back, I think my freak out was expected. We had our first flying lesson in the first week of school. And for me, a muggleborn witch who had just discovered magic, it was a little much to suddenly be flying. On a freaking broomstick for crying out loud.

And now, I am going to try out, and make the Gryffindor quidditch team. I haven't practiced as long as the other members, but when I put my mind to something, you can bet that I will achieve it.

Dad pulls the car into park, and I jump out to grab my luggage. As we approach platform 9 ¾, I can't contain my smile anymore. Beyond that brick wall is Hogwarts, and my entire fifth year.

Mum turns to me with teary eyes, "Well, this is where we leave you,"

"Yep," Dad grins at me, "Goodbye forever my Lily flower, wait for us on the alien planet until we're abducted too, will you?"

I stifle my laughter, "Of course Dad, I shall make sure the alien cows abduct you as soon as possible so I can convert you to the life of the cows."

Mum glares at Dad, her face no longer tear-ridden, but instead stern, and that's all it takes for me and Dad to burst into laughter.

"Sorry Mum, only joking," I tell her between giggles.

My Dad turns to her sheepishly, "Sorry Cheryl, just trying to lighten the mood."

Mum's lips twitch upwards, "Sure David, lighten the mood with us all being abducted." She turns to me and opens up her arms for a hug, "I'll miss you Lily, be sure to write to us, Petunia as well, and make sure you have fun."

My lips start to twist into a frown at the mention of Petunia, who didn't bother seeing me off today before she disappeared off to her boyfriend Vernon's house. But, I push all thoughts of her out of my head and nod at my mom. Nothing will stop this year from being great, "Of course I'll write, I'll miss you too Mum."

Dad wraps me into a hug next, and shakes me back and forth, "Lily dear, I'll miss you, but I know that you will make me proud. Remember what I always tell you, cherish and follow every misdirection. Go backwards, upside down, and every wrong way that you can, and then in-"

"And in going all the wrong ways, I'll find all the right ways, and have the most memories and fun possible," I finish.

"You got it. Oh, and, win that quidditch cup for me, will you," He adds with a grin.

I grin back, and squeeze him one last time, "Yep, I'm gonna make the team and lead us to victory, you can count on that."

I grab my luggage, and say "Bye Mum, bye Dad, I'll miss you, and I'll see you at Christmas," and then I step through Platform 9 ¾ and enter the bustling world of magic.

"LILLYYYY!"

I turn towards the voice, and see Alice barrelling towards me, before I'm squished by her tight hug.

"ALIICCCEEEE!" I scream back at her with a wide smile.

"You wouldn't guess the summer I had," Alice started immediately, at her usual fast-paced talking speed "My uncle Florean had me working at his shop, in all of my free time, which I don't mind of course, but Merlin's beard it was boring, but then I saw this guy, and not like annoying-blah-blah guy guy, but a sixth year gryffindor guy, and oh Merlin he was cute, and he kept coming by the shop, and-"

"Alice breathe," I cut in.

She stops for a second to catch her breath, and then smiles, "We're dating."

"No! Really?! What's his name? What's he like?" I exclaim.

"Frank Longbottom, and he's the kindest soul I've ever met," She sighs, "I think I'm in love."

I turn to her with a knowing look on my face, "And how long have you known him?"

"Ermmm, 3 weeks?"

"That's what I thought. Alice, you always fall for guys fast, and I, as stated in notion five of the Friendship Handbook of 1972, am responsible to protect and defend your heart from being broken."

"But, it's different this time," Alice says, "He's different."

"Maybe he is, but I'm bound by the book, so I'll believe it when I meet him."

The Friendship Handbook of 1972 was something me, Alice, Mary, and Cas had created together at the end of our first year. It consisted of eight notions that we all stood by even today to keep our friendship strong throughout any situations or fights we had. We'd decided to make it after Potter had come to talk to me, and my friends left, without me able to signal to them I wanted them to save me from him. And thus, came about our Friendship Handbook. We kind of morphed it into a friendship code of signals and rules after that.

Notion 1. Game night = "save me", "help", or "get me out of here", an excuse to leave, or SOS.

Notion 2. Alohomora = Do you want to talk about it?

Notion 3. Colloportus = Leave me alone, I don't want to talk about it right now.

Notion 4. Chocolate Frog = I'm on my period. Get me a pad/tampon.

Notion 5. Always protect each other from heartbreak, even if it hurts more in the moment.

Notion 6. Never let a fight go for more than 3 days.

Notion 7. Always stick up for each other, no questions asked, have each other's backs.

Notion 8. If any of us need it, a slumber party is necessary to make each other feel better.

That is the base of our friendship. It's a little stupid and corny (we were eleven and twelve after all), but we've stuck by it, with the help of a small compulsion charm placed on us when we signed it.

"Fine Lily, you'll definitely agree when you meet him. So, how was your summer. You sent me that letter saying you were trying out for chaser?" Alice asked me.

"Yeah, I am, I'm honestly in love with flying after Cas showed it to me, and I'm not too bad at it if I say so myself."

"Of course you aren't, I taught you." I turn around at the sound of her voice, and see Cas and Mary standing behind me.

"Mary! Cas!" Alice squeals as she squeezes them both into a hug. I follow her lead and hug all three of them.

We all step back out of our group hug, and Alice relays her entire story about Frank Longbottom to Mary and Cas, complete with what I'd said about her moving too fast.

"Well, I agree with Lily, we'll just have to see when we meet him if he's truly a good guy," Mary says.

"Ugh, you're no fun," Alice complains, "I bet you're gonna say the same thing aren't you Cas?"

Cas laughs before saying, "Yep," popping the P as she says it.

"Well then," Alice fake sniffles, "I'll just have to find new friends."

"Sure thing Alice, we won't miss you at all," Cas jokes

"Nope," Mary grins, "We'll just be heading off onto the train by ourselves then, just me Lily and Cas."

The three of us grab our luggage and start towards the train, only to have Alice follow us a few seconds later.

I smirk at her, "Awww I knew you couldn't stay away from us,"

"Yeah, yeah. You guys are just too precious for me to leave behind." Alice responds.

We all make our way onto the Hogwarts Express, and search for an empty compartment to sit in, before we find one on our left right in the middle of the train. We all pile in, and close and lock the door behind us. We made the mistake last year of not locking the door, and Potter, Black, Lupin, and Pettigrew decided to grace us with their presence. For 10 minutes straight, they wouldn't leave, until Mary ended up hexing them out of the compartment. Fun as that was, we don't want a repeat of last year.

At about 2, I leave the compartment, and make my way to the first prefect's meeting of the year. Imagine sitting and waiting for a pregnancy test to tell you if it's positive or negative, and multiply that nervousness by 100, and you have how I'm feeling right now. I may be exaggerating a tad, but I really don't want to mess this up.

I open the door to the Prefect's compartment, and see Remus Lupin sitting in there, along with a couple of other students I recognize, the Head boy Neil Brantley, who's in Ravenclaw, and the Head Girl Shira Leyton, a Slytherin. I make my way over to Remus, who I'm assuming is the other Gryffindor Prefect, and sit down next to him. Though he's Potter's friend, he is the most tolerable of the group, and we are tentative friends from the times I've worked on assignments with him.

"Hi Lily, congratulations on Prefect" Remus greets me.

"You too Remus, looks like we'll be working together this year."

"Yep, So, how was your summer?"

"Oh, it was wonderful, I went over to Cas's house, and she actually taught me to fly, surprising as that is."

"Really," Remus asks disbelievingly, "The Lily Evans, on a broom?"

I laugh and say, "For real, and I actually enjoyed it too, I'm even trying out for the team this year."

"Wow, you'd be on the team with James and Sirius if you all make it this year." Remus laughs, "I can imagine that going well."

My heart drops as I realize the meaning behind his words. Damn Potter. I forgot that him and Sirius played quidditch. I don't know how considering it's all his big egotistical head can seem to comprehend. But, somehow in my excitement for this year, I didn't remember that Potter is almost guaranteed a spot on the team. I haven't even seen him yet, and he's somehow already begun ruining my plans for the perfect year.

"Oh, great, I'm ecstatic." I say sarcastically.

"Yeah, sorry, I know you don't get along, but maybe you'll all understand each other after being on the same team?" Remus asks, trying to look on the positive side.

I look at him doubtfully before responding, "Sure… of course."

Eventually, everybody arrives, and the Head girl Shira starts the meeting, "Prefects, you'll be helping Hagrid get the first years into the boats, and when they arrive at the castle, you'll be showing them to the common rooms."

"And here are the first month's passwords, don't lose them," Neil adds, as he passes each Prefect a copy of the passwords.

"We'll arrive at the school in about 20 minutes. Gather up your luggage, and meet us up front in the next 10. We seem to have a bright group of Prefects this year, so I'm sure you'll all do fine." Shira explains to us.

Before we leave, Neil says, "And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask us. Now go gather your stuff, and get back here quickly."

I say a quick goodbye to Remus, and exit the meeting. Then I make my way back to my compartment, feeling less nervous to face my duties as a prefect, and once again excited about my fifth year. Who cares if James Potter is on the quidditch team? I won't let it get me down. In fact, I won't let any more thoughts of that prat go through my head this year. As of right now, James Potter does not exist.

Suddenly, I run into somebody exiting their compartment. I start to apologise, but immediately stop when I look up and see two hazel eyes framed with glasses, and a messy head of black hair staring back at me.

Author's Note: Sooo, that's the first chapter, what do you think? This is my first attempt at any kind of fiction writing, other than school assignments, so if you notice any huge errors, I'd appreciate you pointing them out.

I'm also attempting to stay canon to the books, but that is slightly difficult for me considering there isn't much written about Lily, who her friends are, or really the school during the Marauders' era. So, if any of their characters seem off, I'm sorry, it's just how I believe they'd act.

Last thing, I currently have plenty of free time due to school being out of session, so I'm gonna try to update at least once a week, but considering how bored I am, it may very well be sooner than that, which I'm sure nobody would mind.

Anyways, toodle-oo, enjoy the next chapter if that is posted, and have a wonderful day/night :)